Bruce, Lutz and Smith Headline Wharf to Wharf 6 Mile

SANTA CRUZ, (CA) – JULY, 18, 2018 – HOKA ONE ONE Northern Arizona Elite athletes Stephanie Bruce, Craig Lutz and Scott Smith will make the trip to Santa Cruz, Calif. this week to race at the historic Wharf to Wharf 6-Mile on Sunday, July 22.

For Bruce, this will be the final race of a successful season that saw her capture her first national title at the AJC Peachtree Road Race on the Fourth of July, a third-place finish at the USATF Outdoor Championships in the 10,000 meters, seventh-place at the New York Road Runners Mini 10k and runner-up honors at the Freihofer’s 5k. She’ll face a strong contingent of international athletes including defending champion Buze Diriba and 2015 Boston Marathon champion Caroline Rotich, the course record holder at Wharf to Wharf.

Scott Smith will return to Wharf to Wharf for the fourth straight year. Smith’s 2018 has included wins at the Cardiff Kook Run, the Mercedes Half Marathon and a sixth-place finish at the Boston Marathon in April. He will be joined by Craig Lutz who is coming off a third-place performance at the State Street Mile in Santa Barbara, Calif. where he ran 3:54. The duo will face Teshome Mekonen of Ethiopia and Silas Kipruto of Kenya, both of whom are former Wharf to Wharf champions. Kipruto won the 2011 race and Mekonen returns as the defending champion. Others expected to contend include Kenya’s Simion Chirchir and fellow American, Willie Milam.

HOKA NAZ Elite head coach Ben Rosario said Bruce, Lutz and Smith are all in good form heading into Sunday’s race.

“Wharf to Wharf is such a great event and a little underrated in terms of national exposure I think,” Rosario said. “We have been fortunate over the past three months to get some wins at big races and we would love nothing more than to add a victory in Santa Cruz to that list.”

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ABOUT HOKA NAZ ELITE
HOKA Northern Arizona Elite is a professional sports organization whose mission is to recruit, develop and produce distance runners to compete at the very highest level of international athletics and operate as a successful business by building a global fan base for the team and its athletes through comprehensive and ongoing marketing efforts on a local, national and international level.

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Kyle Levermore
Brand Management, HOKA NAZ Elite
[email protected]